Building Scales Part

LET'S BUILD!

Okay so, what do we know about Scales?

- A scale needs 8 notes

- They must follow the alphabet scale sequence A B C D E F G

- We're in the major/Ionian mode so we use the pattern WWHWWWH to build our scale

- Whole steps are two notes away/ Half-steps are one note away

Let's Build a C MAJOR/IONIAN scale

We will start on a C ( because that's its name, and we start on the letter that is the scale's name)

Step one: Write 8 line spaces for your notes

Step two: Write C at the beginning and C at the end. We know where we start. We know where we end.

Step three: Write out the scale letter names we can use from here.

C D E F G (we still need more letters to get to 8, so we start over at A here) A B (and then we get back to C)

So it looks like

C D E F G A B C

Now, we have to build the correct note names based on the Major Mode pattern.

WAIT

We're going to be changing the names of the letters! I didn't talk to you about that yet. Silly me.

Alright then. Let's learn ONE MORE PIECE of the scale building puzzle.

Sharps and Flats

Sharps raises a note 1 half-step. Flats lower a note one half-step. If you need to raise a note a half-step you give it a sharp. If you need to lower a note a half-step you give it a flat.

Here's what they look like

The End.

Back to Building!

Step three:

Let's rewrite our scale order here

C D E F G A B C

Now let's look at our piano to see how we move through whole steps and half steps.

We were able to move through all of the notes in the Major Scale pattern without having to raise or lower the notes to or from the black keys. They all remained on the white keys staying in their natural state.

So our final C MAJOR SCALE is C D E F G A B C

Good luck with the test!

Going Further

Try building your own scales

D Major

G Major

A Major

E Major

B Major

F Major